


we were both young when I first saw you

by helsinkibaby



Series: Love Story [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 21:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16145993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Nick Torres did not want to spend his senior year of high school in Oklahoma. Turns out it’s not all bad.





	we were both young when I first saw you

**Author's Note:**

> For whatif_au on livejournal, high school AU challenge

Of all the ways Nick wanted to spend his senior year, this was not it. 

He should have been surrounded by the same posse of friends he’d had since grade school, rolling his eyes at the same old teachers, staring at Sofia across the cafeteria, spending weekends at the beach in the Florida sunshine. 

He should not be in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma in a new high school where, between his skin colour and his accent, he sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s ok for Lucia, who’s older than he is and off to law school and doesn’t particularly want to be responsible for her little brother because you’d better believe he tried that avenue. And it’s not that he’s not happy for his mom, because she deserves a man who’s going to treat her like a queen and Jim surely does that. He’d just figured his new stepdad would move to them, not the other way around. 

No doubt about it, this sucks. 

*

Turns out that fitting in isn’t exactly as hard as Nick imagined it might be. Oh, there’s still the usual high school crap but considering that this place is one-third the size of his old high school, there’s not as much as there might have been. It helps that Nick, if he’s honest, isn’t so hard to look at, helps even more that he seems to be naturally able to charm people, to make friends. 

And it definitely helps that he’s a kick ass soccer player. 

During the tryouts, he actually thinks that might go against him because he plays striker and the current captain, also a striker, doesn’t look like he’s exactly happy to have someone else encroaching on his turf. Except they figure out quickly that Tommy’s left-handed while Nick’s right-handed, which means they play better on opposite sides of the field. Which in turn means that, both equally talented, they make a pretty unstoppable team when it comes to setting up one another and scoring goals. By the time they’ve won their first four matches, each by a frankly ridiculous margin, Buckner and Torres are the toast of the school and Nick’s one of the most popular kids in school. 

Maybe, Nick thinks, it won’t suck all that much. 

*

Part of the fun of being one of the popular jocks is that he’s never short of a date on a Friday night, even if he’s not exactly looking for anything serious. Besides, even if he were, the only person he’d really like to be serious with is back in Miami and none of the girls in Oklahoma can hold a candle to Sofia. All the girls he hangs around with here are nice enough, pretty enough, but they don’t have Sofia’s spark, her moxie, the way she just doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks of her. 

He’s not going to meet anyone like that here. 

That’s what he thinks. 

Until one day, he catches sight of someone walking across the quad, a girl he swears he’s never seen before because he would remember her. Once he sees her, she’s suddenly everywhere, like he can’t get away from her. About a half head shorter than he is, she has this long blonde hair tied back in pigtails that fall all the way down to her waist. Her usual wardrobe is not anything anyone he knows back in Florida would wear, these oversized patchwork overalls that swamp what he knows is a tiny frame. She’s always on her own too, doesn’t seem to have any friends and one day he asks Tommy about her. 

“Hey, man.” He jerks his head in the girl’s direction. “Who’s that?”

Tommy follows his gaze and when he sees where he’s looking, freezes almost imperceptibly. If Nick wasn’t so used to reading him on the soccer field, he’d probably have missed it. “Oh, you mean Scarecrow?” He chuckles, but he doesn’t look like he’s amused. Uncomfortable is definitely more the word. 

“Scarecrow?” She looks more like a Dorothy to Nick, but whatever. 

“Eleanor Bishop. Your typical nerd, prefers books to people.” From the corner of his eye, Nick can see Tommy’s head turn back towards him, can see his friend frown. “And before you even think of going there, I should warn you she’s got three older brothers.” He pauses, grimaces. “Three very overprotective older brothers.” He flexes his right hand, grimaces again and Nick is very interested suddenly. 

“There a history between you two?” Because she’s not unlike Tommy’s current main squeeze and he could have a type. 

Tommy shakes his head. “Not that type. And nothing I want to relive.” He stands, claps Nick on the back. “C,mon, we’ll be late for practice.”

Nick stands and follows him, but he can’t help but throw a glance over his shoulder to where the girl has been standing. 

She’s already gone and he can’t work out why it makes him feel almost empty. 

*

His unexpectedly amazing senior year threatens to come to a screeching halt in early spring, which is right about the time that calculus, where he’d barely been hanging on by a thread thus far, suddenly starts to seriously and completely kick his ass. The numbers don’t make sense, the symbols even less and his grades fall and fall until he’s in the danger zone. Not so much for failing, which would be bad enough. But if he’s failing the class, he’s automatically off the soccer team which is all manner of bad. Both for him and their as yet undefeated season. 

That’s where Coach comes in. 

Because with dreams of glory filling his head, Coach is not about to let one of his star players get benched, school policy or not school policy. 

So he gets Nick a tutor. 

Which Nick complains about. Loudly. To anyone who cares to listen. (Not to Coach, though. He has some sense. Not much, perhaps, but enough.) 

At least until he’s in Coach’s office waiting for his tutor to arrive because when the door opens, in walks the girl who’s been capturing his attention for the last few weeks. 

“Ellie Bishop, Nick Torres.” Coach is a man of few words, keeps the introductions short and sweet. “Teach him calculus,” he commands her. Then, to Nick, “Do what she says.” 

“Yes, Sir.” It’s his usual response to Coach on the field so it’s automatic and when they’re shooed out, he glances down at Ellie. “So, the library?” 

She looks him up and down and manages to make him feel like he’s so much gum that she’s just found on the sole of her shoe. “Do you even know where it is?” 

He blinks, taken aback, but only for a moment. “It’s calculus I need help in, sweetheart, not geography.” His quick riposte seems to give her pause and she looks down, bites her lip. It makes him feel like a dick, makes him regret his words, because one of the rules that has always been sacrosanct in the Torres house is that you don’t speak to girls like that. If his mom had heard that, he wouldn’t need to worry about the principal benching him; his mom wouldn’t let him out of the house for a month. “Look, I know tutoring a jock probably isn’t your idea of fun...” She actually snorts. He’d be offended if he didn’t think it was kinda cute. “But I could really use your help. Please?” 

She stares at him for a long moment, lips pressed into a thin line. Then she tilts her head and he can see the second she makes the decision. “We can’t talk in the library,” she says in a tone that brooks no argument. “Computer room is this way.” 

“We have a computer room?” She looks at him like she doesn’t know if he’s joking or not. “Gotcha,” he says and she stares at him for a long moment before she grins. 

She’s got the greatest smile he’s seen in a long long time. 

*

She might have the greatest smile but he doesn’t get to see it too much, not for the first while that she’s tutoring him. At first he thinks it’s because of his marked lack of calculus ability but even when he manages to get what she’s telling him, she still barely cracks a smile. She holds him at arm’s length, is all business, just the facts Sir, and that’s not how Nick works. 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but she’s driving him crazy. 

That lasts until the day after he gets the worst phone call of his life. It’s Sofia, and she’s crying as she tells him she has cancer. She’s crying and she’s scared and he’s what seems like a million miles away and there’s nothing he can do to make it better for her. 

Plus he’s scared too. 

This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to have senior year together, go to prom together, check out colleges together, maybe even grow old together-together, or at the very least as just friends. He’s not supposed to be hundreds of miles away from her, she’s not supposed to be fighting for her life. 

This sucks. 

He doesn’t sleep much that night and he straight up tells his mom and Jim the next morning that he’s not going to school that day. 

They don’t argue which tells him all he needs to know about how seriously they’re taking this. 

It freaks him out a little too. 

Lucia calls from college at lunchtime, having heard the news from Mom. He doesn’t spend long on the phone, lies that he’s fine, asks about her, tries to keep things normal. 

It doesn’t work. 

When the doorbell rings that afternoon as he’s in the kitchen, staring into the fridge and trying to find something that he feels like eating, his mom answers it. Nick expects it to be someone for her but it’s safe to say that the last person he expects to see standing in his kitchen when he turns around is Ellie Bishop. 

“What are you doing here?” 

The words leave his mouth before he can stop them and he doesn’t need to hear his mother’s hastily stifled gasp, see her glare, to know that that was a little over the line. Ellie doesn’t flinch, but she does shift her book bag a little higher on her shoulder. 

“You weren’t in class today,” she says. “Stiller told us we have a quiz tomorrow that’s going to count to our final grade... I thought you should know.” 

Which makes sense, except for one thing. “You couldn’t have called?” 

She narrows her eyes. “I tried. Your phone was switched off.” 

Oh. Right. He’d done that last night after Sofia’s call; Tommy and the guys had been sending text messages about a party at the weekend and it had been the last thing he’d wanted to think about. It hadn’t seemed important after Sofia’s news. He’d obviously forgotten to turn his phone back on. 

As he was digesting that, Ellie reached into her bag. “I got you a set of notes from class... but if you’re sick, I’m sure Stiller will excuse you.” 

He takes the paper from her, knowing that he needs to look at this stuff. He’ll definitely have to go to school tomorrow - he knows his mom, one day wallowing is acceptable, a second is not. “Thanks,” he says, giving the page a quick scan. Then he gives it a second look, can feel a frown forming on his face. When he looks back up at her, she’s biting her lip, looking almost nervous. “This is in English?” She nods and he sighs, accepting his fate. “I don’t suppose you have some free time?” 

She grins at that, like she’d known all along that it was only a matter of time before he asked her that question. “No problem.” 

His mom’s been listening to the whole conversation and she instantly moves into hostess mode, chivvying then both to the kitchen table before bustling about and preparing them some snacks. Ellie’s halfway through explaining the content to them when a bowl of tortilla chips and salsa, both homemade, appear in front of them and Nick’s empty stomach gurgles embarrassingly loudly. “Sorry.” He knows his cheeks are red. “I haven’t eaten much.” 

She doesn’t say anything, just grabs a chip and dips it into the salsa. Her eyes grow wide as she chews and he knows that look. “These are amazing,” she says when she swallows. “Where did you get them?” 

“Oh, please don’t say that around Ma; I’ll need to find a new tutor.” 

Her eyes grow even wider as she figures it out. “Your mom made these?” She shakes her head as she takes another chip. “We may have to change our study location.” 

Nick shrugs. “Help me keep passing this class and I’ll make sure Ma will give you a lifetime supply.” Something occurs to him then and he tilts his head. “How did you know where I lived anyway?” 

Ellie looks at him like he’s crazy. “It’s a small town, Nick.” A pause, then, “Besides, Jim’s done work for my dad on the farm lots of times.” 

Nick shakes his head as he heads for the refrigerator, grabs himself a soda and one for her too. “Guess I’m still getting used to that.” 

“Your old high school was much bigger?” Ellie leans back in her seat but there’s a wary look on her face, like she feels like she’s heading into dangerous waters and needs to tread carefully. 

The look on his face possibly doesn’t help because when he thinks of Florida, he thinks of Sofia and right now that hurts. “Yeah,” is all he gets out before his throat closes up. He blinks and looks down, swallows hard against the constriction and he hears her chair creak as she shifts in her seat. 

“Is everything ok?” She sounds hesitant, as wary as the look on her face seconds earlier. “I know it’s none of my business...” She’s speaking quickly now, like she’s trying to get the words out before he can say anything, like she’s nervous about how he’s going to react. “But if there’s anything I can do... apart from tutoring that is...”

“I got a call yesterday.” She stops talking only when he starts. “From a friend. She... ah... she just found out she has cancer. And not the good kind.” Not that there’s any good kind, he thinks, but when he chances a glance up into Ellie’s face, he sees understanding there. “It threw me... so I stayed home today. I needed time to wrap my head around it...”

“Which is why you had your phone switched off.” Ellie is nodding, like things are making sense to her. “I’m sorry, Nick... probably the last thing you wanted is me coming to your door and throwing calculus at you.” 

Nick opens his mouth to deny it, finds as he does so that it’s not a lie. “Actually, no... I actually think it’s helped. Given me something else to think about.” He means it but it’s getting too serious in here suddenly, so he finds himself making a joke, pointing to the bowl of chips, now almost empty. “Like do you eat like this all the time? And if you do, where the hell do you put it all?” Because there’s not an inch of excess weight on her body; in fact, he sometimes thinks she’s too thin. When he thinks of these things, which is hardly ever. Honestly. 

Too late, he thinks he might have crossed a line but Ellie just shrugs. “I skipped lunch,” is all she says, reaching over and taking another chip, spearing it into the salsa. “Besides... these are too good.” 

Nick picks up his pen, pulls his math book closer to him as he pushes the bowl towards her. “Don’t let Ma hear you say that,” he tells her. “She’ll want you to stay for dinner just so she can hear you praising her.”

Ellie grins although he’s not joking and the proof of that comes a little over an hour later when he’s finally gotten the hang of the problems for tomorrow’s test and his mom comes in as he’s giving Ellie a victory high five. She asks, in Spanish, if his friend will be staying for dinner, with an accent on friend that Nick doesn’t miss. He ignores it in favour of noticing how Ellie ducks her head to hide her amusement. “Don’t bother with the Spanish, Ma, Ellie knows exactly what you’re saying.” He doesn’t take Spanish, but Tommy does, as does Brian, the team’s goalie. When Nick’s calculus grades had started to rise, courtesy of Ellie, Brian had made a joke that since she was top of their Spanish class, Tommy should ask her to tutor him. Tommy had looked like he wanted to punch him. “She speaks it better than I do.” Not that he knows that for sure, but he wouldn’t put it past her. 

His mom looks surprised and so does Ellie. Her expression quickly changes into a pleased smile and she looks down, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. When she looks up again, it’s at his mom and she apologises, in perfect Spanish, and tells her that while she’d love to stay for dinner, her mother will be expecting her home, but thank you for the offer. 

Nick swears he sees hearts appearing in his mother’s eyes the longer that Ellie talks. 

It should freak him out. 

It doesn’t. 

*

That, he will later think, is when things change for them. The moment when they go from a business arrangement to friends. From then on, he occasionally speaks to her in Spanish, just to see if she really can keep up with him - she always can - and every so often if they aren’t studying at his place, he makes sure to put some of his mom’s chips into a bag for her. 

He keeps his grades high enough to stay on the soccer team and when they win the state championship, he’s pretty sure he catches sight of a familiar head of blonde hair in the stands. 

When prom night rolls around, he’s surprised to see that same head of blonde hair standing at the side of the room, surrounded by a group of people that he recognises from study sessions in the computer room. His date, a tall willowy brunette named Elaine, catches him looking and snickers derisively. “The nerd squad,” she mutters and he opens his mouth to defend them but she’s steering him towards the middle of the dance floor and she won’t hear him over the music so he keeps his mouth shut. 

When the time comes for them to announce the Prom King and Queen, Elaine drags him to the front of the room, near the stage. He’s not expecting anything - this is still football country through and through and even if they did win the state championships, with him and Tommy both nominated, he figures they’ll split the vote and the captain of the football team will be a shoo-in. Turns out he got it all wrong though, because his name is the one that’s called out as Tommy hoots and claps him on the back and the next thing he knows he’s on the stage wearing a crown and wiping Elaine’s lipstick from his cheek. 

He’s not sure who’s going to be voted Prom Queen but when Mr Stiller, tasked with being MC, pauses after he opens the envelope, shifts on his feet uneasily, a prickle of something makes the hairs stand up on the back of Nick’s neck. “We... have a write in winner, apparently.” Stiller, usually so confident, sounds unsure and Nick does not like this. At all. “Ellie Bishop.” 

Time seems to stop as silence falls across the room. 

Then from somewhere near the front, there’s a titter of laughter. It ripples and spreads at the same time as one of the spotlights repurposed from the school play finds Ellie in the crowd. The light magnifies her pale face, her shocked eyes and as the laughter grows, it emphasises the shimmer of tears there. 

Nick sees in her eyes the decision to bolt a couple of seconds before it happens and he’s already jumping off the stage by the time her back is turned and she’s heading for the door. He’s stopped in his tracks by Elaine’s hand on his arm. The smile on her face, the laughter in her voice, stops his feet, turns his stomach. “Let her go,” she says. “I’ll be your Prom Queen.” 

He’s fairly sure his disgust is written all over his face. “You knew about this?” 

“C’mon, Nick.” She actually looks surprised at how he’s reacting. “It’s a joke.” 

He knows she’s not just talking about the prank. She’s talking about Ellie. Rage boils through him, hot and strong. “No,” he says, pushing her hand off his arm. “It’s not.” 

He’s not talking about the prank either. 

The crowd parts before him and he’s out the door into the fresh night air. It doesn’t take him long to spot Ellie, the only figure in the parking lot hurrying away from the school and she might be moving quickly but she’s wearing high heels and he’s always been freakishly fast. “Ellie!” He shouts her name and it only seems to make her move faster. “Ellie, wait.” 

When he catches up to her, moves in front of her, what he sees is worse than he feared. Tears are streaming down Ellie’s cheeks and she won’t look at him, tries to dodge around him rather than talk to him. “Go away,” she chokes out and the pain in her voice rips at his heart. 

“Ellie, I’m not leaving you like this-” he starts, his hands reaching out and landing on her arms. The touch seems to ignite something in her and her head snaps up. She’s still crying but she’s angry now. 

She’s also beautiful and he can’t believe he’s thinking that at a time like this but there you go. 

“Did you know?” she demands. “Because I thought you were different, Nick... I thought we were... friends...”

Her voice breaks on the last word which gives Nick a chance to pick his jaw up off the ground. “You think I’d let them do that to anyone? To you?” She’s hurt, he knows that, but the accusation still stings. “Ellie, I would never do that.” She must believe him because her shoulders slump and she looks down and the anger disippates as fast as it appeared. Her face crumpled again and he doesn’t hesitate, pulls her into his arms and lets her cry on his shoulder. He places one hand firmly on her back, not too high, not too low, cups the back of her head with the other and holds her close, mutters that he’s sorry, that she didn’t deserve that, anything else he can think of to say. Her hands make fists in the back of his jacket but he doesn’t care. 

Eventually she lifts her head with a loud sniff. She’s still upset, he knows, but the worst of the storm has passed. He reaches into his breast pocket, pulls out the little pocket square that’s supposed to be purely decorative. “Here.” 

She accepts it with a wan little smile, dabs at her eyes but they both know it’s going to take more than that to fix her. “I had no clue they were going to do that,” he tells her because it’s important to him that she know that. “You are my friend, Ellie... you saved my ass this year. I would never let anyone hurt you.” 

Ellie presses her lips tightly together and for a second it looks like she’s going to cry again. “I know that.” She sounds like she’s forcing the words out and she wraps her arms around herself, a shiver running through her body. At first, Nick thinks it’s the shock and emotion of the night catching up to her. Then he realises she’s actually cold and he’s acting without thinking, pulling his tuxedo jacket from his body and wrapping it around her. The action puts a little colour back into her cheeks, broadens her smile a fraction as she looks up at him. 

“They’re jerks, Ellie,” he tells her as his hands stay curled around the lapels of his jacket, pulling it closer around her. “You’re worth a million of them.” 

The colour on her cheeks flares brighter and once again Nick finds himself acting without thinking, leaning down and brushing his lips over hers. 

For a brief kiss, he feels it all the way down to his toes and he’s surprised - and a little disappointed, it must be said - when she pulls away. “I don’t want a pity kiss,” she tells him and she’s angry again. 

It makes him smile. “You’re not getting one,” he tells her before he pulls her close again. He just about sees her smile before their lips meet and this is much nicer way to lose track of time than having her crying on his shoulder. 

Minutes, hours, days later, he pulls away. He’s a little short of breath but so is she. Her smile is still one of the greatest things he’s ever seen. He slides his arms down and around her waist, laces his fingers together at the small of her back. “If we’d done that weeks ago, think of how much more fun calculus would have been.” 

Ellie giggles as she loops her arms around his neck. He likes that sound. “You would have failed the class and been kicked off the team.” 

Nick tilts his head, considering. “Worth it,” he decides, giving her another quick kiss. “C’mon.” He moves his hands, taking hers in his. “Let’s go back inside.” 

She freezes, shakes her head. “I’m not going back in there.” 

Which is something he understands. He also knows she’s going to have to face them sooner or later and that sooner is probably better. “You’re a farm girl, Ellie,” he reminds her. “Isn’t there some saying about getting right back on the horse?”

“That’s different. Horses are beautiful animals. In there...” She shudders. “It’s more like a pack of wild dogs.” 

“I’ll be holding your hand the entire time,” he promises, squeezing her fingers in illustration. “Besides... don’t you want to see their faces when they see us like this?” 

He’s got to know Ellie pretty well over the last few weeks and months, knows that beneath the pretty, quiet exterior, there’s a devilish streak a mile wide. He also knows she has to come to her own conclusions so he waits. It doesn’t take long for her lips to twitch. “I guess it is tradition for the Prom King and Queen to dance together,” she says and he knows he has her. 

Once more, the crowd parts before him as he moves through the gym. This time, it’s with a great deal more shocked faces and murmurs of disbelief as he leads Ellie to the centre of the dance floor. The people who are dancing drift away as the music stops, the DJ changing the song to something slow, something he vaguely recognises from country radio about dancing on an empty hardwood floor. Ellie is stiff in his arms as he pulls her close, joins their hands over his heart and lets his other hand drift to the small of her back, a bare half inch above proper. Ellie’s other hand grips his bicep and when she meets his gaze, her smile is nowhere to be seen. “Just look at me,” he murmurs, resting his forehead against hers as they start to sway. 

As the song continues, he feels her start to relax, feels the tension begin to leave her body. Somewhere around the second verse, her hand loosens its vice grip on his arm, flattens and slides up to curl around his shoulder. Her smile softens, widens, becomes the smile he’s so familiar with and the rest of the people in the room seem to fade away. 

It’s one of the best nights of Nick’s life and what makes it even better is that he knows it’s just the beginning. 

*

He’s not stupid. He knows that the whispers about them and how long they’ll last start the moment he kisses her on the middle of the dance floor with their whole senior class watching. The nerd and the jock, the whispers go - most people give them a month, and that’s being generous. 

But it turns out the joke is on them, because they spend the whole summer together and when they go their separate ways to college - her to Boston, him to Miami - they still stay together. It’s not easy - daily emails and phone calls are no substitute for the real thing - but they make it work, even if none of their friends and most of their families aren’t sure if it will. 

She’s there for him on the worst day of his life, when Sofia’s aunt calls him during their sophomore year with the news he never wanted to hear. He leaves his dorm room, heads back to the old neighbourhood and his aunt’s house down the block from Sofia’s but he doesn’t cry, not until the next day when he opens his aunt’s front door and Ellie is standing there. His jaw drops but she doesn’t say a word, just steps into him and pulls him into a hug. 

He’s not sure how long they stay like that but when they pull back, both their cheeks are wet. He’s about to speak but before he can, she turns slightly and waves. Following her gaze, his jaw drops again as he sees Barbara Bishop climbing into a rental car. When he looks back at Ellie, she shrugs. “Mom booked the flights so we both got to the airport around the same time,” she explains. “Oh, and apparently I’m not getting a Christmas present this year.” 

He can almost hear her dad laying down the law and it makes him smile. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he says and he doesn’t care if his voice cracks. 

Ellie lays her hands on his cheek, her thumbs sweeping up and down. “You’d do it for me.” 

She sounds sure of it and she should be. They both know he’d do a whole lot more than that. 

He doesn’t bother to tell her she didn’t have to come; he saves that for her mom when he sees her later that evening. She gives him a smile that’s so like her daughter’s it makes his heart ache. “Where else would I be when one of my kids is hurting?” He frowns at the words, glances across the room where Ellie and Lucia are deep in conversation. Barbara’s hand on his elbow brings him back to reality. “I’m not talking about Ellie.” 

She squeezes his arm just in case he’s missing the point. He’s not and he doesn’t cry but it’s a close run thing. 

It shouldn’t surprise him that her mom thinks of him as part of the family, Ellie tells him later. That’s what he is and he thinks the same way about her and his family. It’s why he doesn’t blink when Lucia asks her to be one of her bridesmaids, why he smiles when he sees his mom introducing her around and of course, she charms every single member of his extended family. 

That’s when he starts to think about making it official but he doesn’t actually go down on one knee until much later, when they’re both working in DC, her as an NSA analyst, him as a probie with NCIS. The wedding is a small affair back in Oklahoma, with Tommy as the best man and if he avoids Ellie’s three brothers for most of the day, no-one says anything about it. 

He does a little undercover work with NCIS, finds he’s good at it but also finds that he can’t take being away from Ellie for too long - they’ve done that already, four long years of college, and he doesn’t want to do it again. So he transfers to the DC area, bounces around a few different teams before he ends up taking Ziva David’s place on the Major Case Unit. 

He doesn’t wear a wedding ring - he’s not a ring type of guy and Ellie understands that. He’s also not a guy who talks about his private life at work - Tony DiNozzo does enough of that for everyone - so he doesn’t actually realise that they don’t know about Ellie until his team are chasing down Benham Parsa and her name comes up as the NSA analyst who can help them. 

He offers to call her without thinking, has his cell phone out to call up her number but he stops when Tim puts Ellie’s picture up on the screen. Well, he’s allowed to look after all and it never ceases to amaze him how photogenic Ellie is - she looks like a model in her ID photo, which is a pretty rare thing. “You know NSA Analyst Eleanor Bishop?” Tony’s tone of voice is one of either approval or admiration, Nick’s not sure which. “How well do you know her?” 

The salacious tone, Nick recognises at once. He doesn’t blink. “Well, I married her, so pretty well.” 

The look on Tony’s face is priceless and makes him wish he had a camera. He tells Ellie all about it later that night as they lie in bed together, her head nestling comfortably on his chest. She’s already met them, of course, Gibbs and Tony having paid a visit to her office, leaving him behind to make sure that the whole affair was strictly professional. “I was wondering why Tony was oh so professional with me,” she giggles and he holds her tighter as he kisses the top of her head. 

“He was amazed when he found out we were high school sweethearts... said he didn’t think anyone was still married to the person they were with in high school.” 

Ellie’s fingers trace gentle patterns on his chest. Shivers run up his spine, which he thinks is her intention - after all these years, they know a thing or two about each other. “He’s never met us,” she says. 

She blinks in surprise when he catches her hand in his, brings her fingers to his lips. “You ever wonder,” he asks, “what our lives would have been like if I hadn’t moved to Oklahoma?” He does, sometimes, but it never leads him anywhere good. 

“No.” Ellie doesn’t sound like she had to think about it at all. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it... and I don’t want to try.” 

She’s totally serious and it makes his lips curl in a smile. “Yeah,” he says, moving them so that she’s lying on her back, looking up at him. He cups her cheek for a moment, stares into her eyes before moving his hand lower. She arches into his touch, her eyelids fluttering shut as he leans in to kiss her. “Me neither.”


End file.
